Fire size doubles near Yellowstone
WEST YELLOWSTONE, Mont. – High temperatures and erratic wind caused a wildfire near this resort town and national park gateway to double in size Thursday, to roughly 3,000 acres, a Gallatin National Forest spokeswoman said.
Evacuation orders remained in effect for about 40 summer homes, a resort and campground.
The Madison Arm fire was detected at about 1 p.m. Wednesday and was burning near the Madison Arm of Hebgen Lake about a mile and a half north of West Yellowstone.
Temperatures reached the 90s Thursday afternoon, with relative humidity at 5 percent, forest spokeswoman Marianne Baumberger said. Winds gusts were at 12 mph at 3 p.m. but picked up later in the day.
Crews had the fire 10 percent contained at one point, “but the dozer line was compromised, so that’s gone down,” Baumberger said late Thursday.
She added that the blaze, burning in sagebrush and timber, made a small run toward U.S. Highway 191 at about 6 p.m., but crews were able to keep the road open.
Evacuation orders remained in effect at the Baker’s Hole Summer Cabins, the Lake Shore Summer Homes, the Madison Arm Resort, the Baker’s Hole Campground and a state game warden cabin.
The Yellowstone Holiday subdivision, Yellowstone Village, Rainbow Point Campground and Duck Creek Campground were on alert for evacuation, fire officials said.
Roughly 300 people were assigned to the fire Thursday, including U.S. Forest Service firefighters and the West Yellowstone and Northside rural fire departments.
A highly trained “Type 2” fire team was expected to take control of the blaze today, Baumberger said. The cause of the fire remained under investigation.
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality said smoke “reached very unhealthy levels” in West Yellowstone at about 11 a.m. Thursday.
Conditions improved later in the day as winds increased. But the agency warned that air quality could deteriorate Thursday night “as an inversion traps the smoke and holds it close to the ground.”
Also Thursday, Forest Service officials warned that fire danger readings hit “extreme” and “very high” at many of the 17 reporting stations in southwest Montana.
The driest conditions were in Horse Prairie, southwest of Dillon; at Wise River; in Antelope Basin, south of Ennis; and in the Centennial Valley, southeast of Lima.
In Granite County, and other parts of Madison and Beaverhead counties, fire danger was either “high” or “very high.”
Only in parts of southern Jefferson County was fire danger in the “moderate” range.
“This is pretty early to be seeing ‘extreme’ and ‘very high’ fire danger,” said Jack de Golia, public affairs officer for the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. “We usually don’t see this until mid to late July. The low-elevation grass and sagebrush areas are especially dry right now.”
Fire danger ratings are based on wind and temperatures, and how dry grasses, shrubs and trees are.
Officials urged all those going outdoors to carry a shovel and bucket and to comply with fire restrictions in effect for the area.